A CROSS TO BARE

This isn't blasphemy, it's all for art says TV's Anna

By Richard Wallace

Actress Anna Friel poses naked in a provocative yet stunning picture. She stands behind a black wooden cross in an explosive image which marks a dramatic comeback for the former Brookside favourite - who won millions of fans for her portrayal of Beth Jordache.

The extraordinary picture may offend some, especially as it is unveiled at Christmas. To others it is a startling and daring photo which will stay long in the memory. Anna, 20, thought long and hard before posing for the picture - which is being used to promote her new movie The Tribe, about a religious cult. And she did not take the decision lightly.

She said: "I'm from an Irish Catholic family and I am religious. I would never do anything blasphemous. It is an artistically interesting image, very striking in its own way. The cross denotes strength and I was trying to show how women have been reborn after so much criticism through history. I believe it is positive - as well as being a beautiful picture. "

"Does anyone seriously think I would deliberately walk in and set about doing something that may offend some people? I'm not stupid. I'm not naïve - and I'm certainly not blasphemous. I would be pretty bloody stupid to do it deliberately. I don't see why people have hang-ups over this. Like everyone else I find nudity for the sake of it offensive. That 'get your tits out' aspect is sheer crudity. You only see the outline of my body and I thought it would make a lovely photo. You can look at it and say she's blasphemous because she's naked behind the cross. But I see the cross as being symbolic of the power for good."

Anna discussed the picture with her father and her 28-year-old boyfriend Darren Day. She said: "My dad hope, like me, this won't be blown out of proportion. Darren was shocked at first because he didn't know I'd posed nude. But he thinks it's a beautiful and very positive image. I would be stunned if some people made a huge deal out of it - I'd be terribly shocked".

Anna also strips off in the film - out in April - for her first ever screen nude scene. She tells Sky magazine: "At one stage I thought ' Enough, I'm doing these intimate things I don't want to'. But then I thought ' No just stop it, relax'"

[Feature and Picture printed as part of The Mirrors World's 100 Most Beautiful Women ]